Police say Juarez admitted to wielding knife

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A 14-year-old charged with murder in the March gang melee on State Street admitted to a police detective that he wielded a knife during the midday fight that left a youth fatally stabbed, according to an investigator’s testimony at a court hearing yesterday.
“He [said he] had a knife, pulled it out and he started swinging at one of the Westside subjects,” said Santa Barbara Police Detective Gary Siegel, who interviewed the defendant after the March 14 brawl.

Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez, 14, has been charged with murdering 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares. Juarez entered a not-guilty plea to the charge. Siegel’s testimony came during day two of Juarez’s preliminary hearing, which will determine if there should be a formal trial.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer, the prosecutor in the case, said he felt confident with how the hearing has progressed so far and said the prosecution is putting on the case that is important to put on.
“There is nothing about this case that would disprove that this defendant inflicted stab wounds to the victim,” Dozer said. “I’m convinced our case is very problematic for the defense.”
Siegel said that Juarez told him during the interview that he got the knife, which was described as being about 10 inches long, from his home. Siegel also said Juarez was phoned the night before by an unknown person, who told Juarez the Eastside gang would be “banging” downtown the next day.
Siegel defined the term “banging” as gang related activity that generally involves assaults.
During the March 14 police interview, Siegel said Juarez told him he not only stabbed, or attempted to stab Linares on State Street, but that he pursued him west on Carrillo Street to the Saks Fifth Avenue parking lot where Siegel said he “swung the knife again at the victim.”
Though Siegel said Juarez admitted to swinging the knife in two different locations, Siegel said the defendant believed he made contact the first time (in the street), but couldn’t be sure about the second time (in the parking lot).

OTHER TESTIMONY
Several other law enforcement officers testified yesterday, one of whom was Santa Barbara Police Officer Eric Beecher, who said he interviewed two eyewitnesses who work in offices across the street from the Saks Fifth Avenue parking lot.
Beecher said one of these witnesses told him he saw Linares on the ground in the parking lot with another subject standing above him. At that point, Beecher said the person standing above “made a throwing motion at the boy who was in the bushes.”
Siegel said Juarez was wearing gloves when he was detained and that he sustained a cut to the palm of his hand.
Juarez’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Karen Atkins, asked Siegel about another juvenile referred to as Ricardo R., who Atkins said was eventually questioned, detained and required to give a DNA sample to police.
Siegel told the court that police searched the area of State and Carrillo Streets for an additional knife on March 15, but none was found. He did not specify whether that search was spurred on by any involvement by Ricardo R.
Because Santa Barbara County District Attorney Christie Stanley has decided to try Juarez as an adult, Dozer said the prosecution must prove that Linares’ murder was gang related.
If Judge Brian Hill decides the stabbing was not gang related, Dozer said there would be “legal effects” that could greatly reduce the extent of Juarez’s sentence, if he is found guilty.
The extent of Juarez’s gang affiliation is not well known, but Siegel said Juarez told him during the interview that he had been in a “couple” of fights with the Eastside gang.
Though Atkins didn’t say she was questioning the prosecution’s claim that her client is affiliated with a gang, she wondered why Siegel repeatedly used the term “homies” to describe Juarez’s friends during the interview.

JUAREZ' "HOMIES"
“Would it surprise you to hear you used the word homie many more times than my client did [in the interview]?” Atkins asked Siegel. Atkins said Siegel used the term “homie” 24 times, while Juarez used the term only four times.
Atkins wondered if Siegel introduced the word “homie” into the discussion, not Juarez.
The timeline between the incident, which occurred at 2 p.m. and Juarez’s interview at police headquarters, which occurred at about 9 p.m., was also scrutinized by Atkins.
She asked if Juarez received any food during that duration of time. Siegel said he wasn’t sure.
Atkins also asked Siegel why her client’s DNA, as well as that of Ricardo R., wasn’t taken until May 22 -- more than two months after the incident.
Atkins’ questioning of Siegel was cut short due to objections from Dozer that her questions were not within the proper “scope” of the discussion.
Hill said if Atkins wanted to go through Siegel’s interview with Juarez, which was videotaped, she would have to do so after the videotape was viewed in court.
Dozer said Juarez’s interview will likely be shown on Friday.
Testimony was also heard yesterday from Tucker Papac, a Saks Fifth Avenue parking lot attendant, who said he saw Linares collapse into a planter at the entrance of the parking lot, but that he did not see anyone stab, or kick Linares after he went down.
When asked about the difference between what Papac saw and other eyewitnesses, Dozer said the pursuit absolutely occurred.
“There clearly is a pursuit,” Dozer said. “And there are multiple stab wounds to the victim and we may never know when those stab wounds took place.”
The preliminary hearing will resume at 10 a.m. today in Department 14, which is located in the Jury Services Building on Santa Barbara Street.
Dozer said a forensic pathologist and more local law enforcement officers are scheduled to testify.